Motivations
by busygirlks
Summary: Why did Rachel *really* send Sunshine to the crack house?  Were her motivations purely selfish?  Or is something else at play?  Finchel fluff oneshot.  T for language only.


The story is set after most of the events of S2, episode 1 – Audition. This picks up from Rachel's agreement with Finn's accusations regarding her motives. I rated it T just for language to be on the safe side.

I wrote this after reading an interesting discussion regarding Rachel's motives (and perceived motives) for sending Sunshine to the not-so-nice neighborhood. So many people seemed to think it was out of character for her to be quite so horrible, and I tend to agree. Based on this discussion, this is what popped into my head.

Despite the obligatory angst, I found this story ended up being a fluffy little plot bunny. *Pets cautiously.* I hope you enjoy it.

Be gentle…it is my first fic in a really long time, and my first one for this show. Feedback is always appreciated.

I don't own Glee, I only get to sway in the background.

Rachel Berry had just broken her word.

As she pulled slowly away from Finn's grasp and walked to the auditorium for her needed 'alone time,' Rachel swallowed the bitter pill that she had lied to her boyfriend, the one thing she had promised never to do to him.

It hurt; not just the dishonesty, which was painful enough, but the realization that it was easier for Finn to believe she was a self-centered diva than to believe she loved her fellow Glee members enough not to upset the delicate balance.

Rachel was aware enough to realize that self-preservation was definitely a motivating factor in her admittedly harsh treatment of Sunshine.

But at the heart of things, she was also worried for her teammates. How would Mercedes feel when Sunshine stole all the leads on anything with soul? Rachel knew full well that she could never compete with Mercedes on an R&B number. That was fine, it gave her a niche. But Sunshine could wail, and Rachel knew Mercedes would be relegated to the background.

Reaching the auditorium, she began to sing. Not for applause, not for attention, but to release the emotions she knew no one could accept. She remembered how hurt Finn was when Jesse came along and cut into his solos…how discouraged the other guys had been knowing they were just *that* much further away from leading man material.

No one would believe that she had spent a great deal of the summer arranging music to showcase the talent and potential of her other teammates. Quinn, Santana, Tina, even Brittany all had the lead in at least one of the arrangements she had developed. How surprised would Mike Chang be to see she had given him a lead role on one piece?

Sighing as the notes of her pain died out plaintively in the hallway outside the practice room, Rachel knew the truth. No one would ever believe her.

So, she had lied to Finn. Took the blame entirely on her selfish shoulders. It was easier to just move on than to try to explain to these people that she loved that her motivations weren't entirely self-serving.

That is what they thought of her.

That is how they saw her.

Hand on the door knob, Rachel paused at the look on Finn's face. He had not seen her yet, but he looked suddenly livid. Terrified now of what he would say, she eased the door open just a crack.

"Let me ask you a question," Finn began, Rachel recognizing rage was the source of his trembling voice.

Finn Hudson was not a man for introspection. Generally he found it painful and boring.

But something about the look on Rachel's face when he accused her of misleading Sunshine out of purely selfish motives…something about the way her eyes sparkled with unshed tears as she sighed and took the blame. It stunk. It had him thinking.

Finn sat silently in the practice room, surveying the other members of the team.

Why would Rachel try so hard to keep Sunshine away? Finn knew the girl had talent, but Rachel could outshine her on basically any song. Maybe not the R&B stuff, but since that was Mercedes' domain, why would she care?

Snippets of conversation drifted to him, Quinn making a quiet reference to 'man hands,' Mercedes and Kurt mocking Rachel's polka dot dress, Puck blasting Rachel to Tina and Mike for blowing their shot at Nationals.

They hated her.

It was stupid, but this was the first time Finn really acknowledged how the rest of the team felt about his girlfriend. He always figured they found her to be the way he did, before he fell for her: annoying but motivating and impressive. His isolation was not self-imposed, he realized with a start. They were avoiding him because of his connection to Rachel.

Listening to Mercedes practice runs, Finn started to think about how Sunshine's voice would sound taking on 'And I'm Telling You.' Mercedes was good, but her pitch was not always the best.

And that was when he figured out that Rachel had lied.

Despite knowing how these people felt about her. Despite knowing that they would all jump at the chance to displace her from her role as the star, when it was the only thing she wanted in life.

She had tried her best to protect them.

Finn wasn't naïve, despite what everyone else thought of him. He knew Rachel acted out of self-preservation. But her main motivator, he was now convinced, was to save them the pain of being pushed even further into the background.

She'd lied to him, because in her moment of need, even he had not believed in her.

Finn felt himself shaking with anger.

"Let me ask you a question," he stood, trying his best to keep his voice even.

Silence reigned as all eyes swiveled to the tall teenager with the booming voice.

"Why did you guys want Sunshine on the team so badly? I mean, yeah, she has a great voice, but we already have a female lead."

Kurt snorted derisively, "Sunshine would put little-miss-bossy-pants squarely in second place. Where she belongs."

A general murmur of agreement went up from the group.

"Got it. So you hate Rachel."

Uncomfortable silence enveloped the group.

Tina spoke up, "We don't *hate* her, Finn," she began.

"I do," Quinn interrupted.

"Me too," Brittany chirped.

Finn nodded, "you all do. You all couldn't wait to replace Rachel with Sunshine. You couldn't wait to put Rachel in her 'place' because you hate her. You're too stupid to see the truth."

"Wait a minute man," Puck chimed in, "We all know she's your girlfriend and you don't want us to,"

"Shut up, Puckerman," Finn growled threateningly, "don't you see that Sunshine wouldn't hurt Rachel all that much? We all heard her sing. She can blow, no doubt. But not like Rachel. Not on the same kinds of songs as Rachel. Can you really see her pulling off 'Faithfully?' Or some kind of Celine Dion power ballad? No, her voice is more like…" his gaze swiveled to the diva on the piano bench, "yours. Or maybe Santana's. No way in hell either of you are getting a solo with Sunshine around."

Finn smiled cruelly at the shock on Mercedes' face.

"And with two amazing singers at the helm, how much room is there for *any* of us to get solos? Can you imagine the two of them rocking a duet? Angels would freaking cry, people."

Finn shook his head, "But all you can think about is besting Rachel. And why? Because she's annoying? Or because she's driven and so talented that your talent is nothing in comparison? But she protected you. She did it for herself, yes, because she knows you hate her. She knows that you would vote Sunshine into every solo, whether Rachel was better or not. So, yeah, she did it for herself. But she did it to protect you. All of you. And while I don't agree with her methods…"

His voice trailed off, and his angry gaze scanned the room once more. "I challenge each of you to come up with a real, valid reason why you hate the woman I love," he sucked in a deep breath, "while I go find her and ask her to forgive me for doubting her."

A small voice came from the doorway, "You just did, Finn. And I forgive you."

Rachel glowed with pride. The way Finn had taken the team to task was amazing.

Even more amazing was that he saw her flaws, understood her flaws, and loved her anyway.

She walked to his side, and felt his large hand envelope hers. It gave her comfort, leant her strength.

"I'd be lying if I said my intentions were entirely pure in my treatment of Sunshine," Rachel's eyes went around the room to meet each of her teammate's gazes steadily, "and my handling of the situation was terrible. I have apologized to Sunshine, and she accepted."

"I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm not going to say that anything I did was justified," she smiled slightly, "but I do promise you that at least part of my heart was in the right place. I wasn't lying when I said I loved this team. I know you all hate me…you've always hated me…but this team, it is worth fighting for. These are for you," Rachel handed the stack of arranged music to a stunned Kurt, who distributed them numbly.

"I know that it is probably too little, too late, but I did this for all of you over the summer," Rachel fought back tears as she turned swiftly, gave Finn's hand a final squeeze and fled the practice room.

"She gave all of us solos," Quinn breathed in amazement.

"Even me," Mike piped up, astonished, "I didn't know anyone actually realized I can sing."

"Rachel did this?" Puck questioned, "Did you know about this, Finn?"

"I had no idea," was the shocked response. "I knew she was working on some big project for Glee over the summer, but she wouldn't let me see it."

"We're shitty people," Artie groaned into his hands, "We're shitty people and we deserve to lose her because we were horrible to her."

"True dat," Puck griped quietly, his gaze meeting Finn's and silently expressing regret.

"What do you want me to do?" Finn asked the team. This had to be a group decision. He wouldn't expose Rachel to anymore unnecessary pain.

"Get her to come back," Kurt said softly.

"Why, so you can call her names and mock her clothes? Or maybe so you can whine loudly some more about how much better and more deserving you are of solos than she is?" Finn felt perverse satisfaction at the lowered gazes all around him; at the shocked silence that was so tinged with shame he could taste it.

"She *is* an annoying diva," Mercedes protested half-heartedly.

"Unlike you?" Quinn quirked a brow at Mercedes, and Finn was glad for the help.

"I'm as much to blame as any of you for this," Quinn came to stand next to Finn, "Probably more than most of you, but we have to fix it."

"We could let her slushy us," Puck interjected helpfully.

"Idiot," Mercedes mumbled, rolling her eyes. "There's only one way to apologize to a diva," she said with a smile, "You go get your girl, Finn. Give us an hour and bring her back."

"Fine," Finn agreed, "but this better be good."

He found her on the stage, where he knew she'd be.

Singing 'On My Own,' from Les Miserables, and Finn grinned at the fact he even knew what the hell that song was – it was just another way Rachel had changed him.

It was so sad, so haunting, so terribly beautiful in its perfection that he could only stand and listen as her pure voice lovingly caressed the notes and her soul was laid bare with the words.

As the last strains fell away, he strode to the stage and pulled her into his arms.

"So, am I out?" she sighed tremulously into his chest.

He could hear her tears, feel her shuddering as she suppressed sobs at the thought of losing the only family she had, dysfunctional though they were.

"Nah, Rach," he said lightly, "They sent me to bring you back."

His heart broke as her glistening brown eyes met his stare, "Why?"

"You'll have to come see," he said with a grin, hoping to ease her nervousness. "We have a little while before we're supposed to be there. Let's go get you cleaned up."

Wrapping an arm carefully around her, Finn laid a soft kiss on her forehead. "I love you, Rachel."

"I love you too, Finn."

Will hated to be late to Glee rehearsal. Figgins had cornered him about the Sunshine debacle. After they way he had behaved towards Coach Bieste, he couldn't exactly claim the moral high ground over Rachel.

As he walked quickly towards the practice room, he was surprised to hear the sound of music.

He stopped short at the doorway, not understanding the scene he saw through the window.

Rachel was sitting with Finn, on the top riser of the room, while the rest of the team appeared to be singing to them.

No, he amended mentally, not to them, only to her.

Listening intently, he heard the notes to One Republic's 'Apologize.' The whole club was singing it to Rachel.

He scratched his head, wondering what could have possibly happened in his absence to prompt this. They appeared…sincere. He had expected to see Rachel groveling for forgiveness and being coldly rebuffed (but brought back into the fold out of need).

Instead, she sat, silent and stoic, taking in the performance.

Will groaned. He couldn't lose Rachel. He never understood why the other kids hated her so much. She could be a bit much, absolutely, but her talent was immeasurable. Even if they had managed to keep Sunshine, they still needed Rachel. He wondered why they couldn't see who she was beneath the façade the way Finn finally had.

Of course, it looked like maybe they had seen the error of their ways, based upon the soulful duet Puck and Quinn were leveling on the tiny brunette at the moment.

The last notes of the song ended.

Will waited, holding his breath. Rachel's normally expressive face was impassive.

Until it split wide into her trademark million-watt smile and she stood to applaud her teammates.

Watching as the diminutive figure was enveloped in a massive group hug, Will smiled to himself.

They were finally a team. Maybe he could send Sue to a crack house…it had worked for Rachel.

The End

See? Fluffy. I warned you. Let me know your thoughts, as I adore feedback.

~ Karen


End file.
